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You're Not On The Bandwagon... You're In For The Season

by
Staff Writer
/ Florida Panthers

By Dave Joseph for floridapanthers.com

The Florida Panthers have released one of the most innovative and flexible Season Seat Owner Renewal programs in all of sports. The program will not only allow unprecedented access to Panthers players and coaches, but a wide variety of customized Season Seat Owner packages and payment plans.

Because the Panthers organization believes their fans are truly their MVP’s, they are the first NHL team to send out Season Seat Owner Renewal forms, thereby freezing prices for the 2009-10 season.

“We’re so excited about our Season Seat Renewal program – the flexibility of our packages, payment options and the rich benefits – we didn’t contemplate waiting to offer these unique programs any longer,” said Panthers’ President and COO Michael Yormark. “We wanted to share our ideas with our loyal fans.”

Fans who renew before the Feb. 21 deadline will be invited to four Panthers Postgame Renewal Parties with Panther players between Feb. 5-21. The parties will be presented by National Beverage Corp. of Fort Lauderdale.

In addition to customized plans, Season Seat Owner renewals will receive a number of benefits, including Bonus Game Tickets, Priority Access to Concerts and Events, Discounts at Pantherland, MVP Shareholder Website, Hotline & Monthly E-mails, Personal Account Representative and the Panthers Pass discount card.

A conversation with Michael Yormark:

Q: Historically, teams send out their Season Seat Owner Renewal programs in June. Why are the Panthers offering these plans so early?

Yormark: “We wanted to make sure our fans knew they were truly the MVPs of our organization. Our players know it, our coach knows it, we know it in the front office, and we want to reinforce that through this campaign. The earlier renewal also allows the organization to offer more flexibility, enables player access this current season, and allows season seat owners the chance to plan appropriately in this economic climate - which is something our season seat owners asked for.

Q: The Panthers are offering several different Season Seat Owner Renewal packages this year with different types of benefits. Why?

Yormark: “This will be the first year our fans will have an opportunity to select different groups of benefits as part of their renewal commitment. There will be a wide variety to choose from. If you’re a fanatical fan or a business executive, as an example, you may want different types of benefits. We aimed to customize these benefits to better suit our fans interests and we’re allowing our loyal fans to make those choices.”

Q: Tell us about the Panthers’ continuing effort for its fans to have access to their players and coaches?

Yormark: “We have listened to our fans regarding the importance of creating interaction with our players. We have taken an unprecedented step of providing that opportunity as it relates to our renewal program. We will have a series of ‘thank you’ parties that our players will host. Starting in February, four or five of our players will be thanking our fans at postgame parties. We’ll do a series of four parties.

“When our players and coach Peter DeBoer heard the idea, they were very, very excited about thanking the fans personally for their support because they’re also sensitive to the difficult economic climate and what it means for somebody to commit early to renew their season tickets.”

Q: And the Panthers are trying to help in these difficult economic times by offering different payment plans as well?

Yormark: “We’ve expanded the payment schedule. This year there are three options: pay now, a five-month plan and a 12-month plan, which we’ve never done before.

“This is indicative of our understanding and sensitivity to the economic climate. We’re trying to make it easy for our Season Seat Holders to recommit.”